social-to-imgur

Requirements

• uvx (comes with uv) — used to run yt-dlp without installing it
• Imgur Client ID stored in the macOS keychain under service name imgur-api

Getting a new Imgur Client ID

Register a new application at https://api.imgur.com/oauth2/addclient

Choose "OAuth 2 authorization without a callback URL" as the authorization type.

The Client ID is shown immediately after registration — no secret is needed for anonymous uploads.

Installing the Client ID in the keychain

Store the Client ID in the macOS keychain using the service name imgur-api:

security add-generic-password -s imgur-api -a "$USER" -w "your_client_id_here"

To verify it was stored correctly:

security find-generic-password -s imgur-api -w

To update an existing entry:

security add-generic-password -U -s imgur-api -a "$USER" -w "your_client_id_here"

Social to Imgur Workflow

When the user shares a social media URL (Instagram, Facebook, or any yt-dlp-supported platform) and wants a permanent image URL, follow these steps.

Step 1: Get the thumbnail URL

uvx yt-dlp --get-thumbnail "<post_url>"

Save the output — it is the expiring CDN URL for the cover image.

Step 2: Download the image

Generate a random temp filename:

mktemp /tmp/social_XXXXXX.jpg

Use the path it returns for all subsequent steps.

curl -sL "<thumbnail_url>" -o "<tempfile>"

Verify it is a JPEG:

file "<tempfile>"

If the file is not a JPEG, stop and tell the user what file type was returned.

Step 3: Upload to Imgur

Fetch the Client ID from the macOS keychain:

security find-generic-password -s imgur-api -w

If the command fails, stop and tell the user to add the Client ID to the keychain:

security add-generic-password -s imgur-api -a "$USER" -w "your_client_id_here"

Upload:

curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Client-ID <client_id>" -F "image=@<tempfile>" https://api.imgur.com/3/image

Step 4: Extract and return the URL

Parse the JSON response and extract the link field.

Print the permanent Imgur URL to the user.

If the upload fails, show the full API response so the user can debug.